If you’re like most people, you have a lot on your plate. There’s always much to do for work, life and family, let alone finding time for personal issues, errands and recreation. Staying focused can be challenging, especially with so many distractions from goings-on around us, social media, work, school and deadline demands. Some people are adept at eliminating or controlling distractions and able to get things done on time and without too many deviations. But for others, remaining present, in the moment and able to focus effectively on one task while others are pounding on the door or waving for your attention can be difficult and often insurmountable.

The difficulty of remaining focused, an inability to complete tasks without interruption, and the failure to successfully negotiate the distracting pull of multiple requirements can be signs of chemical, emotional and genetic challenges such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Over the past decades, these symptoms have been more readily diagnosed in children, especially those having trouble in school or unable to relax, play quietly or get along effectively with others. With today’s technological advances, it’s easy to blame over-stimulation for playing a strong supporting role in keeping kids off balance, more easily bored without technology, and wanting more all the time. But for adults, these same symptoms can be more insidious, limiting our efficiency at work and at home, straining relationships, and interfering with sleep and health.

ADHD affects at least five percent of children, and about half of them will carry those symptoms into adulthood, says the American Psychiatric Association. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates numbers are even higher. On top of that, many adults have ADHD or ADD but have never been diagnosed.

Signs you might have ADD or ADHD

If you exhibit or suffer from these traits, you might want to speak with your physician or seek a psychiatric evaluation for ADD or ADHD:

Lack of focus.Possibly the most telltale sign of ADHD, “lack of focus,” goes beyond difficulty paying attention. It means being easily distracted, finding it hard to listen to others in a conversation, overlooking details, and not completing tasks or projects.

Hyperfocus. While people with ADHD are often easily distracted, the flip side of the coin is called hyperfocus. A person with ADHD can be so engrossed in something that they can ignore anything else around them. This kind of focus makes it easier to lose track of time, ignore those around you, and cause relationship misunderstandings.

We all forget things occasionally. But for someone with ADHD or ADD, forgetfulness is an everyday part of life. This includes routinely forgetting where you’ve put something or important dates. Some can be menial. Others can be serious. The bottom line is that forgetfulness can be damaging to careers and relationships because it can be confused with carelessness, lack of intelligence, or ambivalence.

Impulsivity. Impulsiveness in someone with ADHD or ADD can manifest in several ways:

Interrupting others during conversation

Being socially inappropriate

Rushing through tasks

Acting without much consideration to the consequences

Even a person’s shopping habits are often a good indication of ADHD. Impulse buying, especially on items they can’t afford, is a common symptom of adult ADHD.

Restlessness and anxiety. As an adult with ADHD, you may feel like your motor can’t shut off. Our yearning to keep moving and doing things constantly can lead to frustration when we can’t do something immediately. This leads to restlessness, which can lead to frustrations and anxiety. Anxiety is a very common symptom of adult ADHD, as the mind tends to replay worrisome events repeatedly.

Poor health. Impulsivity, lack of motivation, emotional problems, and disorganization can lead a person with ADHD or ADD to neglect their health. This can be seen through compulsive poor eating, neglecting exercise, or forgoing important medication. Anxiety and stress negatively affect health, so without good habits, the negative effects of these illnesses can make other symptoms worse.

Relationship issues. An adult with ADHD or ADD often has trouble in relationships, whether they are professional, romantic, or platonic. The traits of talking over people in conversation, inattentiveness, and easily being bored can be draining on relationships as a person can come across as insensitive, irresponsible, or uncaring.

Treatment and coping mechanisms

People who experience some or many of these symptoms also change employers more often, miss deadlines, experience higher use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs, and suffer from repeated relationship failures, including divorce. If all of this sounds too familiar, it doesn’t mean you suffer from adult ADD or ADHD. But if you do, here are a few steps you can take to improve your life.

Treatment for adult ADHD or ADD is similar to treatment for childhood ADHD/ADD, and includes stimulant drugs or other medications, psychological counseling (psychotherapy), and treatment for any mental health conditions that occur along with adult ADHD.

Stimulants (psychostimulants) are the most commonly prescribed medications for ADHD, but other drugs may be prescribed. Stimulant drugs are available in short-acting and long-acting forms. Other medications used to treat ADHD include antidepressants. The right medication and the right dose vary between individuals, so it may take some time in the beginning to find what’s right for you. Talk with your doctor about the benefits and risks of medications. And keep your doctor informed of any side affects you may have when taking your medication.

Counseling for adult ADHD can be beneficial and generally includes psychological counseling (psychotherapy) and education about the disorder. Psychotherapy may help you:

Improve time management and organizational skills

Learn how to reduce impulsive behavior

Develop better problem-solving skills

Cope with past academic and social failures

Improve self-esteem

Learn ways to improve relationships with family, co-workers and friends

Develop strategies for controlling temper

It’s important to remember that ADD and ADHD are neuropsychiatric conditions that are typically genetically transmitted. They are caused by biology, by how our brain is wired. It is not a disease of the will, nor a moral failing or weakness in character. Many people with these behaviors have trouble accepting these syndromes as being rooted in biology, but through professional help, support groups, education and communication these challenges can be managed, or even overcome.

One of the nice things about being an adult is we can eat our dessert before our meal. But even if we give ourselves permission to indulge, we should tune in to the potential damage those desserts or anything we eat loaded with sugar is causing to our long-term health. With the holidays rapidly approaching, we also face the opportunity to heap an abundance of alcohol-based drinks, sweet punches, soda and a multitude of cookies, cakes and treats to our already struggling metabolic systems. But the long-term cost is not worth the short-term pleasure.

We all know someone with diabetes or “sugar issues,” but the real numbers that accompany this malady are staggering: In addition to the 30 million Americans suffering from either type-1 (insulin dependent) or type-2 diabetes (which can often be controlled by drugs, exercise and careful diet), 86 million American adults – more than one out of three people – have prediabetes. What’s more, 90 percent of them don’t know they’re at risk.

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how our body uses blood sugar (glucose). Glucose is vital to our health because it’s an important source of energy for the cells that make up our muscles and tissues. It’s also our brain’s main source of fuel.

Insulin is a hormone that comes from a gland situated behind and below the stomach. Called the pancreas, it secretes insulin into the bloodstream, which circulates, enabling sugar to enter our cells. Insulin lowers the amount of sugar in our bloodstream — as our blood-sugar level drops, so does the secretion of insulin from our pancreas.

If we have diabetes, no matter what type, it means we have too much glucose in our blood, although the causes may differ. Too much glucose can lead to serious health problems. In type 2 diabetes, our cells become resistant to the action of insulin, and our pancreas is unable to make enough insulin to overcome this resistance. Instead of moving into our cells where it’s needed for energy, sugar builds up in our bloodstream.

Exactly why this happens is uncertain, although it’s believed that genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes. Being overweight is strongly linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, but not everyone with type 2 is overweight.

Don’t let the “pre” in prediabetes fool you

Prediabetes is a serious health condition where blood-sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as diabetes. Prediabetes puts you at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Diabetes affects every major organ in the body. People with diabetes often develop major complications such as kidney failure, blindness, and nerve damage (nerve damage can lead to amputation of a toe, foot, or leg). Some studies suggest that diabetes doubles the risk of depression, and that risk increases as more diabetes-related health problems develop. All can sharply reduce quality of life.

Though people with prediabetes are already at a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, they don’t yet have to manage the serious health problems that come with diabetes, which includes daily insulin injections and carefully regulated nutrition. Between 90 percent and 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2; only about 5 percent have type 1, which is caused by an immune reaction that is not preventable. Type 2, however, can be prevented or delayed through lifestyle changes.

You can have prediabetes for years but have no clear symptoms, so it often goes undetected until serious health problems show up. That’s why it’s important to talk to your doctor about getting your blood sugar tested if you have any of the risk factors for prediabetes, which include:

Being overweight

Being 45 years or older

Having a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes

Being physically active less than three times a week

Ever having gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy) or giving birth to a baby that weighed more than nine pounds

Race and ethnicity are also a factor: African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and some Asian Americans are at higher risk.

Nutritional tips for a healthier holiday season

Here are some useful tips to help manage our sweet tooth when dessert and other foods high in calories, sugar, fat and salt are served:

Decide ahead of time what and how much you will eat and how you will handle social pressure.

Look for side dishes and vegetables that are light on butter and dressing, and other extra fats and sugars such as marshmallows or fried vegetable toppings.

If there is someone else at the party who is trying to watch what they eat, buddy up! Avoid tempting sweets and ask your fellow conscious eater to join you for a walk while dessert is out on the table.

Choose low-calorie drinks such as sparkling water, unsweetened tea or diet beverages. If you choose to drink alcohol, limit the amount, and have it with food.

Additionally, there are ways to revise dessert recipes so they are healthier and still tasty. Often, we can replace up to half of the sugar in a recipe with a sugar substitute. We can also try cutting down on sugar and increasing the use of cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and other sweet-tasting spices and flavorings.

We can often blame type 1 diabetes on genetics, but type 2 isn’t as easy to pass off – we don’t have to give up all of our holiday favorites if we make healthy choices and limit portion sizes. How we eat, what we eat and our willingness to exercise and control our weight are the key factors to remaining healthy and avoiding the trauma of type 2 diabetes and its nefarious side effects.

As soon as the thermostat falls and the heat goes on, many of us suffer from dry itchy skin, especially on our faces, hands and feet. The dry, cold air exacerbates skin conditions like eczema, saps moisture and critical natural oils, and can leave our skin feeling parched, raw, flaky and irritated. Cold-weather elements affect us regardless of the type of heating we use at home or at work, but there are several steps we can take to mitigate the damage and to help keep our skin healthier.

Using moisturizers is a sure bet, but with so many choices and marketing pitches, it’s hard to know what’s best for your own skin. The moisturizer you use in the warmer months may not be as effective in the winter, so as the weather changes, you should adapt your skin regimen, as well. Find an ointment that’s oil-based, rather than water-based, since the oil creates a protective barrier on the skin that retains more moisture than a cream or lotion.

Seeing a specialist is recommended, as well. A dermatologist can analyze your skin type, diagnose maladies, screen for skin cancer and other illnesses and provide professional advice on steps you can be taking and the types of products best suited for your body chemistry and situation. Remaining properly hydrated throughout the winter months is critical for your skin and overall health, and wearing sunscreen when outdoors is essential.

Here are several additional tips for helping maintain healthy skin in the colder, drier months:

Apply moisturizers. Content, not cost, should drive this decision. Higher-priced products are charging you for packaging and marketing as well as content. How your skin responds should be the deciding factor. Switch to oil-based products in the colder months, but be aware that not oil-based moisturizers are appropriate for your face. Choose “non-clogging” oils like avocado, mineral, primrose or almond oil. Shea oil or butter can clog facial pores. Also look for lotions containing “humectants,” a class of substances (including glycerin, sorbitol, and alpha-hydroxyl acids) that attract moisture to your skin.

Also, if your facial skin is uncomfortably dry, avoid using harsh peels, masks, and alcohol-based toners or astringents, all of which can strip vital oil from our skin. Instead, find a cleansing milk or mild foaming cleanser, a toner with no alcohol, and masks that are “deeply hydrating,” rather than clay-based, which tends to draw moisture out of the face, and apply them less often.

Use sunscreen. Even in the winter months, the sun’s ultra violet rays can penetrate and damage our skin. Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen on exposed face and hands about half an hour before going outdoors and remember to reapply it if you’re outside for a long period playing, walking or working.

Wear gloves. It’s hard to keep our hands warm in the cold, dry weather because the skin on our hands is thinner and has fewer oil glands. To avoid itching and cracking, wear gloves when outdoors. Cotton and wool are preferable to synthetics; if you have sensitive skin, wear a thin cotton glove under your regular gloves for added protection.

Avoid wet gloves and socks. There’s nothing as uncomfortable as having wet hands and feet. That moisture trapped against your skin also causes dryness and irritation. Wear cotton near your skin whenever possible, or invest in “wicking” materials which help keep your skin dry. Also use latex or rubber gloves if your hands are in the water often, such as when washing dishes, doing laundry or at work.

Invest in a dehumidifier. Whether you’re heating your home with oil, electricity, gas or wood, dry air is bad for our skin. Humidifiers add moisture to the air, which helps our skin and our lungs. Place units in different locations in the house, and in your bedroom.

Remember your feet. Don’t forget that our feet dry out in the cooler months, along with our faces and hands. Use lotions that contain petroleum jelly or glycerin instead of water-based lotions. And use exfoliates to get the dead skin off periodically; that helps any moisturizers you use to sink in faster and deeper.

Avoid really hot baths or showers. As great as hot water feels on our tired bones, the intense heat of a hot shower or bath actually breaks down the lipid barriers in the skin, which can lead to a loss of moisture. A lukewarm bath with oatmeal orbaking soda can help relieve skin that is so dry it has become itchy.

If you practice these common-sense skin-care steps, your body will thank you. Remember to check in with a dermatologist or skin-care specialist to ensure you’re doing the right things for your specific needs, and enjoy all the winter has to offer!

When you are injured or sick enough to require emergency care, you don’t want the cost of that care to prevent you from seeking professional medical help. But there’s no ignoring the hefty price tag that accompanies a visit to a hospital emergency room. If it’s a true emergency requiring a call to 911, the ambulance crew aren’t going to ask about cost or insurance – they’re going to take you to the nearest or the most appropriate ER depending on your condition, especially if you may be having a heart attack, stroke or other medical event that renders you unresponsive, in shock or suffering from severe blood loss. But if the injury or illness you have experienced is not life threatening, your choice of service provider has a significant impact on the cost.

“Emergency care” is a broad term, ranging from serious injuries or life-threatening events toeye injuries, sprains, broken bones, earaches, sore throats, burns, fevers, infections, animal bites and much more. Deciding where to go can be confusing, and price shouldn’t deter you from seeking help. However, there are a wide variety of more affordable choices now available that offer different levels of emergency or “urgent” care that is sufficient for incidences that do not require emergency rooms, and won’t break the bank.

Knowing the difference is especially important. If you’re an employer, helping your employees choose the proper level of care will save you and them money. Copays and out-of-pocket costs for emergency room visits continue to rise in an effort to control costs. Dissuading patients from going to ERs when a walk-in clinic will do just fine is prudent and sensible. In fact, the next step in this cost-awareness evolution now being implemented by some health insurance carriers will be to penalize members who seek care at an ER when it is not medically necessary.

Protecting against unnecessary emergency medical costs

Ask your insurer for documentation on what your plan will and won’t cover if you or your employees need emergency care. For example, get clarity on your ER copay and coinsurance and on what the plan will cover if you’re not admitted. Your insurer can also tell you which area hospitals take your insurance. You also can then ask the billing department at your hospital of choice whether the ER doctors participate in your insurance plan. And because most insurers cover medically necessary ambulance rides, know how your plan defines that—typically, it means the patient is unconscious, bleeding heavily, or in severe pain.

But the biggest single step employees – patients – can take to reduce medical costs is to choose the right kind of medical care center for themselves and their children. While the emergency room can help care for any medical situation, it costs an average of three times more than a visit to an urgent-care center. In a non-life threatening situation, you can usually be treated at an urgent-care center effectively and far more quickly.

Walk-in urgent-care centers are typically staffed by at least one emergency medical physician, as well as physician assistants and advanced practice resident nurses. They handle non-life threatening situations, and many facilities have x-rays and labs onsite.

While hospital ERs are open 24/7, many urgent-care centers are open late and on weekends and holidays. Emergency rooms are meant for true medical emergencies and can handle trauma, diagnostic x-rays, surgical procedures and other life-threatening situations. In addition to the added cost, which averages approximately $2,300 according to industry data, the average wait at an ER is 4.5 hours. In comparison, the average cost of visiting an urgent-care center is $176, and waiting times are typically significantly shorter.

Visit an emergency room if you experience:

Allergic reactions to food, animal or bug bites

Broken bones

Chest pain

Constant vomiting

Continuous bleeding

Severe shortness of breath

Deep wounds

Weakness or pain in a leg or arm

Head injuries

Unconsciousness

Visit an urgent-care center for these common conditions:

Flu and cold

Coughs and sore throat

High fevers

Ear aches and potential eye infections

Vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain

Cuts and severe scrapes

Minor broken bones such as fingers or toes

Minor injuries and burns

Getting the right care when needed always should be your priority. But with the plethora of urgent- and walk-in-care medical centers now available, making a wise and informed choice can save employees thousands of dollars and help stem the continuing rise in healthcare costs that affect all of us.

If you’re not enjoying the benefits of a wellness program at your company, join CBIA Healthy Connections at your company’s next renewal. It’s free as part of your participation in CBIA Health Connections!